Chapter 84: Then All Three of You Come at Once
Hinata pointed at herself, her face full of surprise. The two sisters then looked at each other.
"Pardon me for asking, Hanabi, but do you think you can beat your sister?"
Hanabi hesitated for only a moment before nodding. Ever since she had won their last duel, her sister's training had become lax. She, on the other hand, had been training day and night, with the guidance of her father and many other Hyūga clan members. There was no reason for her to lose.
"Alright then. Let's set a date for you two to have a match."
"If Hinata wins, it will prove that my training is effective. If you win, and Hinata wants to go back with you, I can't stop her, can I?"
Beside them, Hinata wanted to say something, but Akiyama Makoto just looked at her with a smile. "Hinata, you don't have confidence in yourself, but do you also not have confidence in me?"
Hinata could only obediently close her mouth. She clearly had enough confidence in him. This, however, made Hanabi a little angry... Her sister had only known this guy for a few days! How could she trust him so much?
"Fine. I can fight at any time. Just let me know when you're ready, sister."
Hanabi displayed her absolute confidence, then stood up, bowed to Makoto, and said her goodbyes to the group.
"I have to train with my father tonight."
Even after she had left, her voice still echoed in the three girls' ears.
Hinata was used to this, but Ino and Sakura were quite shocked. Although they considered themselves to be diligent ninja, compared to Hanabi, it was as if they were just eating, drinking, and playing every day. This made them feel a little nervous and guilty, wondering if it was really okay for them to continue living like this.
"Makoto-kun, can I do it?" Hinata finally couldn't hold it in any longer and asked. At this point, she had no confidence at all in defeating Hanabi. Just as her sister had said, she had long since slacked off in her training.
Makoto, however, had a relaxed expression. "Hinata, if I'm not mistaken, your training involves taijutsu sparring with the Gentle Fist, without using chakra, correct?"
Although the Gentle Fist looked soft and weak compared to the Strong Fist, its destructive power was by no means small. It was a taijutsu that involved injecting one's own chakra into the enemy's body, thereby damaging their internal chakra pathway system and organs. Therefore, in theory, anyone hit by it would be taken down in a single blow if they had no special defensive measures. This was why even when Hyūga clan members sparred, they would certainly not use the Gentle Fist to actually attack each other.
Hinata nodded. Everything was just as he had predicted.
This also explained why the Hyūga were so obsessed with training the Gentle Fist and didn't train in other ninjutsu. When you have a "one-hit-kill auto-attack," would you still bother learning attacks that barely scratch the enemy? If it weren't for the later era of god-tier shinobi, each with their own unique abilities, while the Gentle Fist remained a conventional chakra attack, he would have definitely prioritized learning this fighting technique himself.
But fighting against gods was still a distant prospect for Hinata. For now, if she could master the essence of the Gentle Fist, her strength would soar.
So, what was the essence of the Gentle Fist? Was it the various complex forms, striking the enemy sixty-four times in one breath? Was it the unique skill of sending the enemy flying so they couldn't land?
No. A one-hit-kill—that was the essence of the Gentle Fist.
In fact, the Hinata who grew up eventually understood this. During the Great Ninja War, she learned the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists, a technique that could condense chakra in her palms to form the shape of blue lions. It not only retained the one-hit-kill characteristic of the Gentle Fist but also expanded its attack range. Unfortunately, by that time, the opponents of the Gentle Fist were already god-tier characters like the Deva Path Pain, so it naturally lost its chance to shine.
From this, it wasn't hard to see that the elites of the Hyūga clan also understood where the style's weakness lay: the inability to extend its one-hit-kill property to mid- and long-range. Although there were techniques like the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, they were just pure chakra blasts. A Gentle Fist that couldn't kill in one hit had already lost its soul.
The current Hinata obviously couldn't learn the Twin Lion Fists yet. So, was there a way for her to master a mid- to long-range chakra attack right now?
The answer, of course, was yes.
And his answer was not something as absurd as Rabbit Hair Needle or Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack, but a very common method that couldn't even be considered a ninjutsu.
"Hinata, hold out your hand."
She nodded and obediently did so. In the days she had been with him, she had grown accustomed to doing such things.
Under the watchful eyes of the three girls, he extended his right index finger. A thread of chakra extended from it, deftly wrapping around her wrist. He then infused a bit of her favorite Yang chakra into her body, and that suspicious blush appeared on her face again.
But now, the three girls were looking at the chakra thread at his fingertip with suspicion. How did he know this move?
"Mako, isn't that a Sand Village technique? How do you know it?" If Ino didn't trust him, she would have had the urge to use the Mind Body Switch Technique on him.
"It's just changing the shape of chakra into a thread. Is that hard?"
His relaxed expression actually made Ino start to doubt herself. Had he really achieved this through raw talent?
To prove his point, Makoto opened his left hand. Chakra appeared in his palm and then, according to his will, transformed into various shapes.
The three girls were dumbfounded. Sakura muttered to herself, "How can someone with this much talent not even get into the Academy?!"
"Perhaps because I'm a late bloomer?" he said with a faint smile, brushing the topic aside.
He wasn't doing this without considering the risk of being targeted by Hiruzen and Danzō again. But now, he had already mastered medical ninjutsu, and it was only a matter of time before he learned Space-Time Ninjutsu. So he really wasn't afraid of being suspected again. At worst, he would just slip out of Konoha early and go find Tsunade to formally become her disciple. As long as he showed enough strategic value, someone would naturally come to prove his legitimacy.
"Actually, this is just shape transformation. I think all three of you can do it. You just need to practice slowly."
"As for you, Hinata, what you need to do is first train to master the use of one chakra thread, and then try to extend the power of your Gentle Fist through it."
This idea of his wasn't purely a wild thought. In one of the famous scenes from Naruto, Neji had killed Kidōmaru by transmitting chakra over a long distance to destroy his internal organs. It was just that at that time, the medium for transmitting the chakra was the spider silk that Kidōmaru himself had spat out.
"Now, relax your mind and body. I will first guide your chakra to form a thread. You just need to get a feel for it."
Hinata's eyes shone with excitement. She immediately closed her eyes and did as she was told.
Ino and Sakura exchanged a look. "We want to learn too!" they said quickly. He had said they could do it too. They naturally wouldn't let this opportunity for growth pass them by.
"Alright. Then all three of you come at once."
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 200 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 20+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you